Athletic shoes currently employ a number of different soles to provide various degrees of traction depending upon the surface being used. With outdoor activities, for example golf, a plurality of spikes have traditionally been provided on the base or sole of the shoe to allow for the shoe to puncture the surface of the ground and thereby provide traction in the relatively soft turf. The spikes have typically been manufactured from metal which serve well to provide the traction, but do become worn especially when used to traverse harder surfaces such as pavement and sidewalks which thereby requires the user to change the spikes periodically. As a result, the spikes are often threadably attached to the sole of the shoe.
One recent development in the golfing community has been the banning of such elongated metal spikes on many courses. It has been found that the metal spikes damage the turf of the course to a degree which is unsatisfactory to the proprietors of such golf courses. As a result, many courses now require that a smaller depth spike, typically manufactured from plastic or rubber, be used on the sole of the shoe. Rather than provide a single elongated metal spike, the newer plastic or rubberized traction devices typically include a number of different protrusions each of which is shorter in length than the typical elongated metal spike. While the shorter depth of such a plastic or rubberized traction device does alleviate many of the turf damage problems associated with elongated metal spikes, many players still wish to use the elongated metal spike. This is especially true with courses which are especially wet or which have terrain wherein the elongated metal spikes would be most advantageous.
In addition, while many courses have banned the use of such elongated metal spikes, many courses still allow their usage and since it is a preference of many players to still use the elongated metal spikes, both traction devices continue to be used today. The fact that two different types of traction devices are currently allowable on many courses has placed additional burdens on the players. For example, many players maintain two separate pairs of shoes, depending on the course being played. Alternatively, the process of changing one type of traction device for another results in a relatively time-consuming and frustrating process. It would therefore be advantageous if an athletic shoe were to be provided which would allow various types and depths of traction devices to be used and to be interchanged efficiently and quickly.